DES MOINES, Iowa — The road to recovery is long for Perry school shooting survivor Corey Hoffman. He and his mom, Bobbi Bushbaum, are still making trips in and out of hospitals for multiple medical procedures, including a recent surgery on his leg.
Bushman told Local 5 the financial burden on her family is heavy.
"It's been difficult," she said. "It's been a big struggle both mentally, physically, financially, emotionally."
The Jan. 4 fatal shooting at the Perry High School campus took the lives of 11-year-old Ahmir Jolliff and longtime principal Dan Marburger and injured six others.
Though Hoffman and his family have received an outpouring of support from the community in the months since, Bushbaum claims she has not heard much from the Perry Community School District's School Board.
"Unfortunately, with the school board itself, we were not contacted until we had made a public post about them not contacting us 10 days after the incident," Bushbaum said. "We still have not heard, other than that very short phone call, that's all that we've heard from the school board."
For Bushbaum, it's not just about reaching out to check on her son — it's also the lack of information surrounding the thousands of dollars donated to the school on behalf of the families of the victims of the Jan. 4 shooting.
She said it's money that could ease the burden of bills that continue to pile up.
"The school and the booster club had started a fundraiser that was saying it was for the victims and their families," Bushbaum told Local 5. "And to this day, we have not received a penny from that."
In a meeting on Monday, April 8, the school board proposed a plan to create a custodial fund of all the money donated for the victims of the school shooting. This would give the district the authority to maintain it all, while not having the responsibility of raising the funds or controlling the disbursement of the money.
Criteria will be implemented to determine who gets a piece of the fundraised money.
Bushbaum hopes the district reconsiders making families jump through hoops to get the funds they deserve and checks on victims more frequently.
"The kids' teachers have been there anything that we've needed. We've formed some very close bonds with some people, including one of the administration who actually found my son after he had ran out of the building and had basically saved his life. So, those those guys, I cannot thank enough," she said.
The school board plans include appointing a fund administrator who will develop and implement criteria for disbursement of these funds. The fund administrator can not be an officer or employee of the district, something Bushbaum is looking to receive more clarity on.